The Henson Journals

[165]

Saturday, September 17th, 1921.

[symbol]

"Prior to the critical era, the historic Jesus was Jesus as interpreted by the gospels, including the fourth. With that figure it was not very easy, but comparatively easy, to make the creeds agree against Arian or Unitarian interpretations. Apart from isolated texts, there was the broad fact that Jesus seemed to call men less to his teaching than to himself as the embodiment of the life and truth that he taught: that he made personal love and devotion to himself the equivalent to salvation and the righteousness it involves. This was implicitly to take God's place in relation to the soul – the place which Jesus has actually taken for Christians: a place which no other religious teacher, neither Moses, nor the Bouddha, nor Mahomet, has ever claimed or received.

Father Tyrrell "Jesus or Christ", 9.

This is an excellent statement of the case. Nor need one dissent from the next paragraph:– "But now we have a double task – that of divining the historic Jesus through the Gospel record, & that of comparing the Jesus, so found, with the Christ of the creeds."

In that process of "divining" everything turns on sound method, & an honest application of it to the sacred texts.

[166]

Our guests departed after an early breakfast. I am glad to have had some talk with Ralph about the Cambridge pronouncements.

In view of the excitement caused in religious circles by Gore's Essay in "Lux Mundi" on 'Inspiration' the Bishops desired Bishop Lightfoot, then lying on what was to be his deathbed, to write a paper on the teaching of the Church in relation to recent views of Inspiration of Scripture, for them. He replied to the Archbishop of Canterbury (Benson) on Dec: 14th 1889.

My dearest Archbishop

Under any other circumstances I should at once have acquiesced in such a request coming from the Bishops; though indeed I should have nothing to offer but counsels of patience. There is nothing so dangerous on such a topic as the desire to have everything right and tight. I do not know whether it is that my mind is not logical, but I find that my faith suffers nothing by leaving a thousand questions open, so long as I am convinced on two or three main lines.

On Dec: 21st 1889, the Bishop died. [v. Benson's 'Life' vol ii. p. 289]

In the afternoon Ella, Clayton, and I motored to Kelloe, and there (after tea at the Vicarage) I dedicated a war–memorial in the parish church, and preached a sermon. After service I was shown the very interesting late–Norman Cross which is set up against the north wall of the chancel. This cross is richly sculpted with scenes from the legend of St Helen, to whom the church is dedicated.

Sir John and Lady Struthers arrived on a visit.

---